Siddhattha Gotama, the historical Buddha, was filled with endless compassion, kindness, joy, and equanimity. He could be said to be "infinitely good," although any metaphysical extrapolation from that into a universal base of things is suspect.

Gain and loss, status and disgrace, censure and praise, pleasure and pain:these conditions among human beings are inconstant,impermanent, subject to change.

Ervin wrote:Like I said in one of the other threads that the way I see the truth as it is, is that there is an infinitely good and infinitely gentle Source of everything that exists.

But, do you as a Buddhist believe that Buddha is infinitely good and infinitely gentle?

Thanks

Judging from this and other posts of yours, and forgive me if im wrong, you seem to be looking at buddhism with ideas brought from other religious traditions. It might be better to start with a clean slate from The Four Noble Truths, The Fourteen Unanswerable Questions and a few minutes of meditation practice everyday.

"When you meditate, don't send your mind outside. Don't fasten onto any knowledge at all. Whatever knowledge you've gained from books or teachers, don't bring it in to complicate things. Cut away all preoccupations, and then as you meditate let all your knowledge come from what's going on in the mind. When the mind is quiet, you'll know it for yourself. But you have to keep meditating a lot. When the time comes for things to develop, they'll develop on their own. Whatever you know, have it come from your own mind.http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/thai ... eleft.html

Ervin wrote:Like I said in one of the other threads that the way I see the truth as it is, is that there is an infinitely good and infinitely gentle Source of everything that exists.

But, do you as a Buddhist believe that Buddha is infinitely good and infinitely gentle?

Thanks

it would depend on how you define good, and gentle!

This offering maybe right, or wrong, but it is one, the other, both, or neither!Blog,-Some Suttas Translated,Ajahn Chah."Others will misconstrue reality due to their personal perspectives, doggedly holding onto and not easily discarding them; We shall not misconstrue reality due to our own personal perspectives, nor doggedly holding onto them, but will discard them easily. This effacement shall be done."

Infinitely good and gentle - I would not disagree with that, although those terms are maybe not very clear.But source of everyhing? No, that's not right.The source of everything is in your heart. It is not infinitely good and gentle. There is good and bad, knowing and misunderstanding, greed, hatred, delusion, compassion, friendliness, and a lot of stuff all mixed together. To sort that all out completely and understand it and let go of it, that is what the Buddha taught.

The Buddha was just a man who developed skills for dealing with emotions like anger, greed, and lust, and he created a training program so that others could develop the skills required to achieve a lasting happiness that does not depend on outside sources.

When this concentration is thus developed, thus well developed by you, then wherever you go, you will go in comfort. Wherever you stand, you will stand in comfort. Wherever you sit, you will sit in comfort. Wherever you lie down, you will lie down in comfort.

Ervin wrote:Like I said in one of the other threads that the way I see the truth as it is, is that there is an infinitely good and infinitely gentle Source of everything that exists.

That is an idea which - when cultivated - may entail the effects known from metta meditation.

Ervin wrote:But, do you as a Buddhist believe that Buddha is infinitely good and infinitely gentle?

Hmh .... "I" is a consciousness, "buddhist" is a consciousness and "buddha" is a consciousness and everything that can be thought of is a consciousness. So what's the point of asking "Do you believe ...?"

Following is a part of post posted by keithBC from a different Buddhist forum:

by KeithBC » Tue Oct 23, 2012 6:12 pm

As any parent or pet owner knows, sometimes being good means a firm and perhaps forceful "No!" So good, yes. Gentle, no

I would like to explain how you are also infinitely gentle, which is infinitely good:

If you were in a so called nirvana( nirvana is what I believe the peace of the Source is like or similar) you wouldn't have to let's say partake in saying no when someone asks you for something. But on a so called "planet earth" as a human we might say no because it might be a more compassionate choice than saying yes.

So by being gentle, good and reasonable in this circumstance on "planet earth" than that's infinitely good and gentle. You should look at the circumstance you are in before you decide how good you are. You are allowed to give yourself reasons for doing what you do. Reasons are sometimes called excuses.

You should check out the Cula Malunkyovada Sutta. Basically, it explains, why you should learn what there is to be learned, and determine whether the teachings help you, rather than worrying about the details. The simile is to that of being shot by an arrow. Would you ask for the details of the man who shot you, or of the arrow, or who will extract it, or simply accept that someone has shot you, and someone will extract it. Whether the person who extracts it is infinitely good and gentle, is not very important.